Flashback Monday -Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Originally Posted on September 23, 2010

Recently, a cardiac nurse, Miriam Leverington, was stopped for speeding and she made a remark to the police officer that stopped her. She told him “I hope you are not ever my patient”.

The police officer filed a complaint with the hospital where she worked, and said that her remark was basically a threat, which suggested that she may give him bad treatment if ever he was in her care. The hospital subsequently fired the nurse, who has now filed an unlawful dismissal lawsuit which is being decided by a federal appeals court. The nurse claims that she was exercising herright to free speech and she was just expressing her hope that she would not meet the officer again.

If that was the case, why not just tell him so? I see that as a threat. If I met a cardiac nurse and she told me that she hoped I was never her patient, I can only understand that to mean that she is going to make my life miserable, or even put my life in danger. I definitely agree with the hospital’s decision to fire her, and I think that her nursing license should have been taking away.

A poll was taken of how many people believe that it was right for the hospital to fire her. Only 70% agreed with the hospital. That’s a scary statistic. That means that 30% of the population is as vindictive and sadistic as this nurse. This only goes to show that you need to be extremely polite to health care practitioners, even if they are screwed up and pissing you off. Statistically, 1/3 of them are crazy and have your life in their hands!

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It’s possible she meant that she wouldn’t want him as a patient because he was hateful and could be a troublesome patient. You have to look at it from both sides. The nurse may have worded what she said in less than a nice way and the police officer took it wrong. She may have been late for work and was upset/stressed that he didn’t cut her a break. Some people are overly sensitive and find wrong in everything and he may have been one of those people. Not all cops are golden boys (or girls). Everyone has to be so darn politically correct these days! It’s not just the health care profession as you stated, but everyone! Cops can hold your life in their hands, too. You could end up in jail for doing nothing wrong but saying the wrong thing.

It’s sad that you think that the 30% who disagree with the hospital are vindictive and sadistic. I’m certainly neither, and until I knew all the facts and had a profile of the officer, I wouldn’t agree with the hospital either. The cop may have been less than professional. There’s plenty of corrupt police officers out there. More than likely the hospital fired her because they were scared of the word, “lawsuit.” I worked at a once well-known manufacturing plant (now in bankruptcy) that would lay off anyone who was injured as soon as they were able to go back to work. They didn’t want the responsibility of a disabled person or the possibility of a lawsuit. I know, because I was one of those people. And working in a chemically polluted environment for 7 years probably was a major factor in my developing sarcoidosis.

Susan, you are correct that she may have had no evil meaning to her words, but the fact that she drew her profession into a statement was wrong, unprofessional and just plain stupid. That statement, made by anyone, to me, would be taken as a threat. If said by chef, “I hope you never are a customer in my restaurant”, would you go to his restaurant? I wouldn’t. Think about the statement from a doctor. What about if you were told this by judge “I hope you are never in my court”. Do you think you will get a fair trial if you ever appeared before him? Words are extremely powerful, and unfortunately in today’s society, used sparingly.

If the cop was rude to her, she had the right to file a complaint with his department, not threaten him needlessly with shallow words. Yes there are a lot of corrupt cops, but there are a lot of rude nurses, arrogant doctors, obnoxious patients, insulant sales clerks and in general, nasty people. Yes there are people that are the exact opposite, but unfortunately empty vessels make the most noise, and those rude people are void of some sort of peace in their heart, and tend to be the noisiest and most noticeable and memorable. Yes we all have bad days, but does that give us the right to be mean to our fellow man? Unfortunately there are those in society that believe “having a bad day” should give us a pass. I don’t. I think that no matter what sort of day you are having, you need to keep your calm and never ever be rude. Take a deep breath and calm down. There is never, ever Any reason anyone should pay the consequences of any negative occurrence in your life. And to this some would that it’s only human to react like that. To that I would say that it is the lazy, uncaring man that cares only for them self that would react that way. It is the person that cares for his fellow man, that thinks before he speaks, and never intends to do any harm, physical, or emotional, is human.